Inaugural European Games; Baku, Azerbaijan
- Tuesday June 23– Saturday June 27, 2015
- Baku Aquatic Centre, Baku, Azerbaijan
- Prelims: 12:30 am EST; Finals: 8:30 am EST
- Meet Preview
- Start lists, timeline and results can be found here.
- Live Video
Event Program for Second Session on Saturday, June 27, 2015
Men’s 50 Freestyle – SEMIFINAL
7 of the 8 men making it to the final did so in sub-23 fashion, led by Israel’s Ziv Kalontarov and his top time of 22.61. That knocked a tenth of his time from heats and is on the books as the Games record now. Italy’s Giovanni Izzo was right behind in 22.73 and Russian Aleksei Brianskii swam to the 3rd seed in 22.76. Final to take place later in the session.
Women’s 50 Butterfly – SEMIFINAL
Russia’s Polina Egorova finds herself in lane four for another final once again, after registering a best time of 27.15 in the women’s 50 butterfly semi. She leads runner-up Julie Jensen from Denmark, who finished in 27.42, followed by Austria’s Caroline Pilhatsch who clocked a 27.46 to earn the 3rd seed headed into the final race slated for later in this session. Note, it will take quite a feat from Egorova or anyone else to surpass the current 50 fly World Junior Record held by Russia’s Rozaliya Nasretdinova at 26.26.
Men’s 400 IM – FINAL
Russia’s Nikolay Sokolov led this final wire-to-wire, looking strong through every stroke to dominate his way to the gold medal in a personal best of 4:19.44. This knocks over 4 seconds off of Sokolov’s previous best of 4:23.87 from just this past April. Russian teammate Igor Balyberdin was right behind Sokolov the entire race, battling against Poland’s Karol Zbutowicz for silver. It was Balyberdin who ultimately came away with the 2nd place finish (4:20.80), however, touching the wall in 4:20.80, with Zbutowicz slowing down at the end to settle for a 4:22.22.
Women’s 100 Backstroke – FINAL
Age groupers everywhere should be motivated to work on their race finishes, as that is the component that allowed Russia’s Polina Egorova to steal the gold medal from teammate Marlia Kameneva. Kameneva looked to be the top finisher of the field headed into the last strokes, only to have Egorova put just enough extra oomph in her final surge at the wall to win the race by just .04. Final times were 1:01.19 for Egorova, 1:01.23 and Pauline Mahieu from France snagged the bronze in 1:01.34.
Men’s 100 Breaststroke – FINAL
Another day in Baku, another World Junior Record broken! This time it was Russia’s breaststroking ace, Anton Chupkov who lowered his own 100 breaststroke WJR mark of 1:00.84 set in August of last year. Chupkov snagged the gold tonight in a new record time of 1:00.65, as the only swimmer to dip beneath the 1:01-threshold. That makes two breaststroke victories for the 18-year old, as he already earned a gold in the 100 breaststroke. Silver tonight in the race went to the 50m breaststroke gold medalist, Lithuania’s Andrius Sidlauskas, with his time of 1:01.42. Bronze went to Great Britain’s Charlie Attwood in his time of 1:01.71.
Women’s 100 Breaststroke – FINAL
Maria Astashkina ran away with this race, completing her hat trick of breaststroke victories at these Baku Games. Astashkina split 32.18/35.53 to earn her 3rd breaststroke gold in a time of 1:07.71, almost a full second over the rest of the field. Also by touching the wall first, Astashkina racked up the 7th gold in a row for her nation of Russia, as the entire team has been steamrolling over the competition for most of the meet. 2nd in the 100 breast was Italy’s Giulia Verona in a time of 1:08.61, knocking almost a second off of her previous best of 1:09.45. Another Russian, Daria Chikunova, held on for the bronze with her effort tonight of 1:09.02. As fast as Astashkina looked against the field tonight, her time is still quite a ways off of the World Junior Record of 1:05.39 held by Lithuania’s Ruta Meilutyte, a record primed to stand for quite some time.
Men’s 200 Freestyle – FINAL
Just when it seemed as though Russia’s momentum would carry them to multiple medal finishes in virtually every remaining event, a pair of Great Britain swimmers threw a major wrench into that nation’s plans. Duncan Scott and Cameron Kurle blasted a 1-2 punch of a finish in the men’s 200 freestyle, dashing any hopes of a Russian gold or even silver in the event. Scott took the race out hard and simply maintained his pace the entire way, with Kurle right on his hip throughout. Scott’s gold medal-winning time was 1:48.55, only .3 of a second slower than his personal best. Kurle claimed the silver in 1:48.92 to represent the only other sub-1:49 effort of the field. Russia did come away with the bronze with Elisel Stepanov‘s 1:49.64, two tenths slower than his top seeded time of 1:49.42 from prelims.
Women’s 200 IM – FINAL
A thrilling battle once again, as the 400 IM women’s final saw its leader change over several stretches of the race. Germany’s Maxine Wolters was able to keep her momentum when it counted and powered her way to the gold medal in a time of 2:13.37, hacking more than half a second off of her career best. Wolters adds this medal to her silver from the 200m backstroke earlier in the Games. Italy’s Ilaria Cusinato also earned her 2nd medal of the games, collecting another silver to add to her 400 IM runner-up finish. Cusinato touched the wall just behind Wolters, clearing a time of 2:13.78. Abbie Wood followed up Scott’s and Kurle’s 1-2 Great Britain punch in the men’s 200 freestyle by clenching the bronze in this event, swimming a 2:14.49 to add another medal to her gold from the 400 IM.
Men’s 100 Butterfly – FINAL
16-year old Daniil Pakhomov from Russia could not quite match his 52.13 from yesterday’s prelims, but still managed to nab the gold tonight in a time of 52.72. Pakhomov looked fluid and in control for the first 70 meters, but really started tightening up during the home stretch, where Spain’s Alberto Lozano did he best to take advantage. Lozano simply ran out of real estate to overtake the Russian at the end, but still snagged the silver in 52.78. That crushes Lozano’s previous personal best of 53.86 from earlier this month. Pakhomov’s teammate, Daniil Antipov raced his way to the bronze, touching in 53.36 for his second medal of the games. A look at the top two competitors’ splits:
Pakhomov: 24.41/28.31 = 52.72
Lozano: 24.85/27.93 = 52.78
Women’s 50 Butterfly – FINAL
Make that 4 individual gold medals, 6 overall for Russia’s Polina Egorova, as she bulldozed her way to the wall in this sprint butterfly event in a time of 26.82, destroying her personal best of 27.15 from prelims this same session. Austria’s Caroline Pilhatsch scored the silver medal in the event in a time of 27.18, while Denmark’s Julie Jensen earned the bronze in 27.19.
Men’s 50 Freestyle – FINAL
Tremendous effort from Israel’s Ziv Kalontarov on his way to Israel’s first swimming medal of these games and he made it gold, to boot. Kalontarov was the top seed out of the earlier prelims race this session, where he registered a time of 22.61, but his finals time of 22.16 simply blew that feat out of the water and zoomed the 18-year old to the top of the podium. Kalontarov finished over half a second faster than the rest of the entire field, which is quite a margin in the splash n’ dash event. Kalontarov’s 22.16 now ranks him as the 21st fastest in the overall world rankings this year. His time also registers as the brand new Israeli national record in the event, having overtaken the 22.54 set by Or Sabatier at Israel’s National Championships last year. Italy’s Giovanni Izzo maintained his runner-up spot from prelims, clocking a time of 22.51 for the silver, while Russia’s Aleksei Brianskii claimed bronze in 22.69.
Women’s 4×200 Freestyle Relay – FINAL
The women’s race was incredible from start to finish, but the Russian foursome of Anastasiia Kirpichikova, Arina Openysheva, Olesia Cherniatina and Irina Krivonogova combined for a winning time of 8:03.45 to claim Russia’s 22nd gold medal of this swimming competition. The Netherlands’ squad of Laura Van Engelen, Frederique Janssen, Marieke Tienstra and Marrit Steenbergen made it a close race towards the end, but their time of 8:04.65 resulted in silver. Team Great Britain finished in 3rd in a time of 8:04.84 for the bronze. Interestingly, rivals Openysheva (RUS) and Steenbergen (NED) saw their 200 splits match exactly as 1:58.04 swimming their teams’ 2nd and anchor legs, respectively.
Men’s 4×100 Medley Relay – FINAL
To top off the team’s impressive performance as a whole over the inaugural 2015 European Games, the Russian men’s 4×100 medley relay capped off the night with a new World Junior Record. Filipp Shopin, Anton Chupkov, Daniil Pakhomov and Vladislov Kozlov combined to hack more than a second off of the old mark of 3:38.02 Russia held from Nanjing last year. Tonight, with a gold medal-winning time of 3:36.38, the men swam their way onto the history books in not only this event, but in claiming an overall 23rd team medal for the Russians in Baku. Great Britain earned the silver in 3:39.01 and Poland clenched bronze in 3:39.31.
Splits for the winning Russian relay:
Shopin – 55.47
Chupkov – 1:00.27
Pakhomov – 51.55
Kozlov – 49.09
3:36.38
